Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help support businesses to invest in skills and training.

Employers have a crucial role to play in the skills system, and the department wants all employers to invest in their workforce.

The department’s post-16 education and skills strategy will set out how we will drive up employer investment in the skills needed by their workforce. We want to start a national conversation on the role that employers, government and learners have to play in funding education and training, as part of an approach that clarifies expectations of what the right mix of funding is for the skills system. We will work with employers and others as we develop the strategy.